


Seams

by bramblePatch



Category: Gyakuten Saiban | Ace Attorney
Genre: Body Image, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Self Esteem Issues, Weight Gain
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-05
Updated: 2012-09-05
Packaged: 2017-11-13 14:49:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/504668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bramblePatch/pseuds/bramblePatch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick seemed smaller, slightly diminished - or was that just in comparison to her heavier frame? She pulled away a little more quickly than she might have a few years before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seams

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this a couple years ago for a prompt on the Phoenix Wright Kink Meme, and just discovered it again on my hard drive.

The worst bit was, Maya hadn't even really noticed until this morning.

She hadn't been into town in ages, what with the channeling school to run and a baby to look after, and her closest friend answering his e-mail sporadically and his phone not at all. So when Nick had called her up yesterday and asked, a little sheepish and a little defensive, if she'd like to get together some time, she'd jumped at the offer. Master's robes, however, were not well suited to long train rides and walking through Los Angeles, and anyway, Maya didn't really want to make this about what had happened since she'd seen him last.

Unfortunately, the few street clothes she had in the back of her closet... didn't fit very well anymore.

Of course, she'd been vaguely _aware_ that she was a little heavier than she had been at eighteen, but that was only natural, right? The doctors had been happy with her weight gain during her pregnancy, and she'd thought she'd shed most of those pounds after Mindy was born. She'd never given much thought to her weight, and in clothes that adjusted easily and mostly hid her figure, and extra fifteen pounds hadn't seemed like so much.

And now, the waistband she'd had trouble buttoning was starting to feel uncomfortably tight. At least she could be sure that most of the glances she received on the train were friendly, directed at two-year-old Mindy, who was fascinated with the blur of motion outside the window.

Fairly confident, anyway.

Well, some of them were _probably_ looking at the kid.

Maya sighed.

She met Phoenix at one of their old haunts, a burger place that had undergone extensive remodeling since Maya had seen it last, but had left the menu mostly unchanged. Maya very nearly didn't see him; she'd been looking for familiar spiked hair and a cheap blue suit, not a beanie and sweatsuit. Nick seemed to have no trouble recognizing her, however, and waved her over with a smile that a little slower than the one she remembered.

He stood to greet her, and as they embraced, Maya couldn't help wondering if he'd always been so bony. Nick seemed smaller, slightly diminished - or was that just in comparison to her heavier frame? She pulled away a little more quickly than she might have a few years before.

If he noticed, Nick didn't comment. “Maya! It's great to see you again,” he said, as if he hadn't been the one who had imposed radio silence between them. “You look wonderful. And this must be Mindy.”

Maya was saved from having to address his comment about her appearance as the two-year-old buried her head in her mother's side, suddenly not sure about this strange man in this strange place. Maya smiled and held her daughter closer. “She's a little shy, I guess.”

Nick chuckled. “Don't really blame her for being scared of a hobo like me,” he joked. “Come on, let's get something to eat. My treat. As usual.”

She stuck her tongue out at him, for a a moment felt like an irresponsible teenager again. Looking up at the menu board, she ordered the place's smallest burger, and a basket of chicken strips for Mindy. Nick raised an eyebrow, no doubt remembering meals of three or four huge burgers, and she pretended not to see. He didn't say anything, but she could feel the unspoken comment hanging between them.

And then, as she retrieved a booster seat for Mindy and slid it into place in the booth, Maya heard a horrible ripping sound, felt the seat of her pants shift and loosen in a way that they absolutely shouldn't have.

“Oh my _god_ ,” she groaned, barely above a whisper. Phoenix, coming back to the table with the full tray of food, looked at her curiously as she slid onto the seat, feeling the hard bench cold beneath the split seam, and flushed bright red.

“You ok, Maya?” he asked, a slight bewilderment in his blue eyes that told her he, mercifully, hadn't recognized the sound of defeated fabric. 

“Fine,” she replied a little too quickly.

A long moment stretched between them, as Maya stared at the Formica table as if it would give her the secret of a perfect body, Mindy twisting little hands in the hem of her mother's shirt in a way that Maya was sure revealed a roll of flesh. Nick put the food down on the table with a sigh. “It's a lot easier to get a kid into one of those seats if you aren't already sitting down,” he offered, finally.

“I'll manage,” she said, a good deal more lightly than she felt, scooping up Mindy and awkwardly swinging the little girl up and over the table.

“You sure nothing's wrong?” her friend prompted again. “Nothing's bugging you?”

“Everything's fine, Nick,” she snapped.

Phoenix looked at her very intently for a moment, and finally pulled his hand out of one pocket to tap on the tabletop with a familiar green curve of stone. “Maya,” he said levelly, “you just popped up a psyche-lock.”

She groaned. “You still carry that thing?”

“Always,” he replied with a slight smile. “Now, it's just one little lock. Are you going to tell me what's going on, or do I have to start fishing?”

“It's nothing, Nick,” Maya sighed, gently pushing his hand, and the Magatama with it, back off the table. 

He shook his head. “Not that easy, Maya. Now, you used to be able to empty out my wallet on a regular basis – and I saw how you were looking at the specials posters, so I don't think it's your appetite that's suffered. Stop me if I'm going too far off track.”

She stared at the tabletop, blushing to the roots of her hair, but didn't say anything.

“And you've filled out a little,” he added. Maya looked up at him in something akin to terror.

“I've gotten fat, ok?” she said, far louder than she'd intended to. “I'm a huge _cow_ and a just ripped through the seat of my pants! I'm sitting in McGreasetrap's with a split seam in the seat of my pants and it's pretty much the most mortifying thing in the history of ever.”

As she said it, she felt an odd sort of carthesis, finally having it out in the open. In Nick's view, she rather suspected, the chains were falling away, and he laughed. That laugh should have hurt her, but somehow, all the hurt had been pushed out already like pus from a wound, and after a moment she found herself giggling as well.

“Is that all?” he asked, getting to his feet and wrestling his way out of his sweatshirt. He tossed it to her. “Here, you can tie this around your waist.”

Maya glared at him. “Way to miss the point, Nick,” she said, but she took the hoodie.

“Nah, I'm just dealing with the easy part first. You'll be more reasonable once you don't feel half-naked anymore,” he replied.

She sighed, tying it around her hips as he'd suggested. It fell past her knees. “You don't have to sugarcoat anything. I know I look awful.”

Nick smirked. “You really don't. To tell the truth, when you were nineteen you kind of looked like a twelve-year-old boy.”

“NICK!” she gasped, half-laughing. “I did not!”

“Perfectly rectangular,” he replied, almost laughing himself. “And it's really not surprising that this is what you look like now that you've finally grown into yourself.”

“What do you mean?” Maya demanded.

“Well, Mia wasn't exactly a size four, now was she? If she's any indication, you've come by those hips honestly.”

Maya sat for a long moment, pondering, as her daughter smushed up a french fry and smeared it around the table. Finally, she glanced up at the menu again. “I think I'm going to need another burger.”


End file.
